Network domains are logical groups of devices connected to a computer network used to identify the device in various forms of electronic communication such as the Internet, e-mail, etc. Electronic content hosted from a computing system on a first Internet domain, such as a streaming media server, can execute other electronic content from electronic content providers, such as advertisement servers, hosted on a second Internet domain. Servers in different network domains can communicate via transport layer socket connections.
Cross-domain communication between a computing system hosting electronic content, such as an application, on a first domain and a content provider hosting other electronic content on a second domain can be controlled using socket policy files. Socket policy files can specify the domains from which an electronic content provider will permit the establishment of socket connections. An application hosted by a system in a first domain that requests electronic content hosted by a content provider in a second domain can first request a socket policy file from the content provider domain. If the security policy specified in the socket policy file permits connections from the first domain, the application can retrieve electronic content from the content provider domain.
Non-secure socket connections allow non-encrypted or otherwise unsecured data to be transmitted between a system on a first domain and a content provider on a second domain. Additional measures for cross-domain communication may be required to secure communications between the system and the content provider.